jenna: this is organ where the coast guard has a haunted house, lots of costumes there and it's all for charity. we hope you have a happy and safe halloween today. jon: thanks for joining us. jenna: "america live" starts right now. megyn: fox news alert. days after a devastating storm surge that reshaped hundreds of u.s. communities the stories of destruction left behind by sandy are only just beginning. welcome to "america live," busy afternoon, folks. i'm megyn kelly. here is what we know so far. at least 59 people are now dead, 6.23 million customers still without power. national guard troops are being dispatched to places like hoboken, new jersey. while natural gas leaks threaten to spark new fires along the jersey coast we are learning it could be weeks before one of the most highly used and complex transit systems in the world is fully operational, a system that moves over than 9 million

passengers a day. president obama is expected to leave the white house any moment now to head to new jersey where he can join new jersey governor chris christie on a tour of some of the areas hardest hit. we are also getting a better look this hour at what governor christie is calling the destruction too widespread for words. that includes long branch, 50 miles south of new york city. right now you're looking at a swimming pool, standby, full of debris from a building torn to shreds by wind and water. the sand stripped away and piled in the streets exposing beach heeds. we go south to spring lake, new jersey. that town is over 100 years old. a lot of folks go for vacation and the weekend that kind of thing. the longest portion of the boardwalk in the state of new jersey. you can see the remnants of it at the water line, the pounding surf tore off each and every board. further down the coastline there is total destruction in the beach community of seaside heights, home of an iconic

amusement park, and now look at it. something about these images, something about the roller coaster, the ferris wheel in the ocean, it's just wrong. for generations families have spent their summers here, trace gallagher records on what happened in seaside heights in moments. but now we're going to go to another community that took sandy straight on and that is the town of manaskon new jersey, as officials go door to door look for people trapped. look at the picture behind our own rick leventhal and you can see why. >> these are two of hundreds of homes in manasquan that were heavily damaged or destroyed by hurricane sandy. this community founded 125 years ago this month suffering horrendous, horrendous losses. we are standing on what is left of a boardwalk shredded.

you can see the steel bulk head in the sand that is the first time that steel has been exposed in 50 years since the last time a major storm did this kind of damage in 1962. you see just feet and feet of sand that have been moved off. as you look down the beach at million dollar-plus homes that lined the coast here that are now just trash, many of them were pushed off of their foundations, many gas lines were broken. we can smell the gas in the air. there are gas crews here trying to shut them down and make sure there aren't any fires or explosions, but a very dangerous situation. residents are not being allowed back in at this point. we just took a tour with the mayor a short time ago to the other end of this piece of land to the glimmer glass drawbridge. we want to show you what we found on that drawbridge, a number of boats washed off of dry docks and up on to the bridge. obviously the bridge is unusable and the streets are unusable. there is several feet of sand on

1st avenue here in manasquan and four feet of water on the roads at least. every single one of the 1500-plus homes between -ts bridge anthe bridge and ocean have received damage. megyn: this looks like the aftermath of a tornado, it looks like a tornado hit a lot of these homes. was the damage caused by the ocean, i mean the ocean was upon those homes? >> reporter: absolutely. the storm surge was the biggest issue here. the storm surge is what ripped up this asphalt boardwalk beneath our seat and dislodged many of the homes from their foundations and what ripped the front off of many of these houses and then brought the sand into the living rooms. the surge was very, very powerful, it left water on this island for a couple of days. it has now receded, which is the good news, but what its left behind is a terrible mess and, again, a lot of gas leaks and a dangerous situation for the people on the ground here.

fortunately, megyn most of the people headed the mandatory evacuation order. the few who stayed i talked to a couple of them had a very, very scary night. megyn: you look at the homes, obviously it's a beautiful community, but these aren't the wealthy. these aren't people with several million dollar homes there. these are families who have had these houses for generation, who have saved for generations to buy something in a fun, beach community and it's gone, it's just completely gone. >> some of these homes are several million dollars, but there are others that fit the description that you just gave. so i mean it's a well-mixed community and a community that was very vibrant and now has a tremendous amount of work ahead of it. megyn: yeah, i mean -- wildwood new jersey, seaside heights new jersey are not rich tkphupbts and thecommunities and they have been leveled in large part. thank you. we are waiting for president obama, has he touched down? i'm getting it in my ear he's just arrived in atlantic city

where he will tour the devastated areas with new jersey governor chris christie. when you listen to the governor talking about what has happened in new jersey last night you could just hear the sorrow in his voice an used that word and said sorrow is appropriate but not when it gets in the way of resilience and the people of new jersey need to be resilient as they face the challenges posed by the devastation, not just new jersey, new york and connecticut as well. you can see air force one landing as the president gets to work. we mentioned the impact that sandy made on seaside heights, new jersey. it's a well-known town and boardwalk and look at the roller coaster. i mean do you know what i mean? there is just something about that. the roller coaster, the amusement park where you go with your family for good times for fun, for celebration, and to see it sitting in the middle of the ocean toppled by mother nature, the residents there worry right now about ruptured gas lines amid the rampant power outages

and the flooding at their door steps. governor christie says the jersey shore of so many american child hoods may now be a thing of the past, that the memories we have will be very, very different as they try to rebuild and start again. trace gallagher has an update on that, trace. >> reporter: you know the mayor, megyn of seaside heights doesn't have the heart to go up in a helicopter and view the damage from the air because what he has toured from the ground and the sights that he has seen he says are crippling. if you look at those pictures from the air it truly is disastrous. this is the fun town pier before and after. look at the picture on the right-hand side. the roller coaster that was feared for its plunging descent for many sids has now plunged into the sea. a merry-go-round, megyn that has gone round for 99 years is now destroyed. the bumper cars and the ferris wheel have crashed together. the boardwalk is gone, and so are the pile inks an the pilings and the foundations for

what made this one of the great summer spots for families up and down the east coast. new jersey governor chris christie has viewed the damage. listen now to him. >> the pier where the rides where i took my kids this august before the republican convention, where i got in that famous yelling match with the guy with my ice cream cone, these rides are in the atlantic ocean. the roller coaster that all of them rhode on this summer, it almost looks like the pier came out from underneath it and it just fell onto the ocean floor and stayed almost fully constructed. it was an overwhelming afternoon for me emotionally as a kid who was born and raised in this state and who spent a lot of time over my life, both my childhood and my adult life at

the jersey shore. we'll rebuild it. no question in my mind we'll rebuild it. but for those of us who are my age it won't be the same. >> reporter: it will never be the same. seaside heights by the way is a barrier island connected by a bridge which is now mostly underwater as are many of the homes in that area, and as the water begins to recede a bit authorities are scrambling to go house to house getting more people out of those areas, and remember there is no power, they have to do the work during the day because nighttime does them absolutely no good for the first responders to go out. the city is best known in recent years as the location of the mtv show "jersey shore" very much now it will as the mayor said -- or the governor said be rebuilt, megyn it will not be the same. like you were talking yesterday you spent a lot of your youth there, so did i as a young adult at seaside heights, i remember that roller coaster very well and for a lot of people those images are stunning at the very least. megyn: it's good to hear the

governor say they are going to rebuild, that's what we do, we pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off and move on. trace, thank you. fox news alert on some new video coming in from the fire that left new york city's breezy point in queens looking like a war zone. not a single structure untouched by the storm's wrath. 111 homes burned to the ground. this time yesterday we thought it was 80 it's been updated. the tight knit beach community home to many police officers and firefighters. it is no stranger to tragedy. the community lost 37 of its neighbors on 9/11. janice dean in the to be extreme weather center. >> i'm married to a fireman and he knows people who have homes there. it hits home. taking a look at the radar right now we are still dealing with the remnants of sandy, a very slow-moving low pressure system pushing into can today. the cloud canopy reaching as far north as the arctic circle, this is still a far-reaching storm. we are dealing with winds in

some cases, 30, 40 miles per hour and the snow totals, megyn are as stoupbding. aasto u.n. ding. close to 3 feet in west virginia, north carolina and maryland. most of these places don't have power and it will be very cold during the next few days. it will push into the northeast and we'll have a clearing period over the weekend. i want to give an fyi, i don't want to sound alarm bells but we are watching the potential for a low pressure system to come out of the southeast and kind of ride up the coastline early next week that could bring a potential storm, a low pressure center, i'm not saying it's going to be tropical or a nor'easter but we are watching something very carefully because it could affect relief efforts, or people trying to rebuild and get into their homes. just know that we're going to watch it and bring you the very latest. just want to look at the cold temperatures that are happening overnight tonight and of course a lot of folks are without power, we need people to get

together and help their neighbors. back to you. megyn: thank you. on the campaign trail mitt romney's team suddenly buying ad time in three states that were thought to be basically a lock for the president. are there suddenly new opportunities opening up for the republican candidate? chris stirewalt joins us next. a fight over a facebook group involving free speech. we'll tell you what it has to do with navy seals and the commander-in-chief and why they say he is leaving them out to dry. and the aftermath of hurricane sandy, some people driving 50 miles for one tank of gas. >> if you drive around in circles you'll use gas -- and just sitting here i burnt five gallons of gas so i got out with the can -- from jammin' jerk chicken,

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behind by sandy. long beach island, new jersey was one of the many communities reshaped by the storm. ocean water tore through the homes there knocking many of them right off of their foundations. look at that picture. boats littering the area, some washing up right against the homes. cars and motorcycles scattered about everywhere. there is no power, there is no clean water, and there is no gasoline in the area. officials are keeping everyone off of the island until at least saturday. we will speak live with a local from this town who is hold up in his home and can't go anywhere in just a bit. >> people coming together is what is also going to happen i believe on november 7th. [cheers and applause] >> i know that we have differing viewpoints with regards to the campaigns. up until that point when we get to vote on november 6th,

november 6th you'll see us describe our respective visions for the country. my view is pretty straightforward and that is i believe this is a time for america to take a different course. megyn: that was governor mitt romney earlier today laying out what he thinks will happen in just a few short days when americans cast their votes fora. a poll of registered pennsylvania voters show the president two percentage points behind where he was just last month. governor romney enjoys a five-point boost. it's 48-44% puts the race within 4 points in pennsylvania where it was 54-49 in november. detroit suggests a similar swing in voter sentiment. romney close the gap in michigan the detroit news. chris stirewalt is the host of power play on foxnews.com.

governor romney is buying ad time and the president is trying to match him while sending bill clinton and joe biden, to minnesota and michigan all thought to be in the blue-state column in this election, because he's trying to head fake us or he has a legitimate shot of winning those election tore kwral rich states. >> part of the reason is that there is so gosh darn much money in this year's election neither candidate is abiding by the old limits on spending and the money is out there so both candidates have deep pockets in their campaign, they say, let's take a try here, let's take a try here. it's very telling where the gambit is taking place, it's not on the red turf it's on the blue turf. it's in blue wall streets, pennsylvania, minnesota, those are places that democrats don't want to be worried about. particularly interesting is michigan which has been a bulwark of the democratic party as important to them as any other state where you see the

race essentially tied. megyn: i want to talk to you about michigan. this has been thought to be blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, and it's got 16 electoral votes, chris. i mean if he -- if romney won michigan he wouldn't have to have all the yangst he has about ohio, about wisconsin. nobody is talking about michigan as a back up for him but look at that headline in michigan. and i want to play for the audience what a guy named bill i think it's ballager, i can't read my own handwriting. he's the politics editor for inside michigan. look what he said about michigan an hour ago on happening now. >> you still have to give barack obama a mild edge, but again, like everything that is happening nationally, it's getting very tight, and i wouldn't be shocked if mitt romney pulled off a shocker next tuesday. megyn: michigan? one poll showing it within three points in michigan. >> well, look, this is a guy you listen to about michigan.

he knows how the state works. in fact this is of course the native state of mitt romney. you're right, i think that it's still the most likely scenario is whoever wins ohio going to win the presidency, but things are getting so weird and these numbers are getting so contradictory and no scam -bld that you have to start thinking about these possibilities about what if mitt romney lost ohio by an hair if he was to pick up a rich state like michigan then the map becomes viable again. it's getting weird out there. megyn: it was a 14 point race a month ago now it's showing three points n. minnesota it was eight points in president obama's favor a month ago, now it's as tight as 3 points. in pennsylvania it was nine points or more a mow ago, some polls are showing it now within four points and the president is sending sur gather to these states and buying ad time in response to the romney camp doing the same in those states. we had a rasmussen poll that showed romney up two in ohio on monday and a dispatch poll out

of ohio showing it tied up in ohio. team obama tells us you cannot believe these numbers. this is a manipulation by the folks that are on team romney to make us think these states are in play when in fact they are not. how are we to know the truth? >> we are not to know the truth until tuesday, here is the real truth, there is plenty of panic in chicago and boston, both sides here, this is total white knuckle time down to the end, it's what i live for, it's these moments when both campaigns are nervous about what is going on, that makes for good politics. megyn: that's what -- those of us who cover the race, that's when we win. >> exactly. megyn: all right, chris, thank you. >> you bet. megyn: the transit system that brings workers in and out of new york city moves more than 9 million passengers a day, 9 million. and it may be weeks until this is fully restored. we'll show you what that could mean for your bottom line just ahead. plus, the debate over one of the most offensive ads of the campaign season just ahead.

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megyn: the more time passes since sandy slammed into the east coast the more we are stunned by the scenes of devastation. today the video seems worse than yesterday as news crews get out to the sites. take a look at tuckerton, new jersey. look at this. it used to be on the jersey shore, now it's part of it. beaches, yards, streets completely disappearing under sandy's surge. in chris field, maryland coffins of the dead floating up from underground. look at this. the power of this storm strong enough to dislodge the comment

slabs, incredible. check out highway 12 on north carolina's outer banks, sandy's winds and waves destroying the road. it looked like an earthquake hit, making it obviously impassible. on new york's staten island at least three massive trees uprooted from the ground all threatening that one house. we've got unbelievable tree video that we showed earlier on fox news, it's worth seeing again, so we'll show it to you of a tree actually coming out of the ground, you see the whole thing happen. some of us wondered, how does that happen? what does it look like? you will see it happen right here. to the campaign trail and the swing state of ohio where president obama has spent a lot of time talking about how his administration saved detroit. but thousands of employees for auto parts maker delphi may disagree, and their dissatisfaction could be key in a razor-thin race.

steve brown has an update from dayton, ohio. steve. >> behind me is the last operating delphi factory here in dayton. it used to employ 25,000 in this area now 300. back in 09 when gm was getting bailed out delphi was going through bankruptcy and there were lots of employees salaried and union who were asking nervous questions about their pensions. >> how is our healthcare looking after retirement? how is our pension looking? everything is good. pension plan is well funded. >> we were told that everything was secure in your pension, and you plan on that for the rest of your life. >> until like its dayton area plants delphi shut down the employee pension plans handing them off to the federal government. >> when my pension went from 2,500 $50 a month guaranteed to the federal government saying you'll get $385 a month. >> and you spend years and years making your financial plan for retirement and going through all the numbers and wanting to live

like you wanted to live and with your children and grandchildren, and then it gets taken away from you in a heartbeat. i feel absolutely betrayed. >> enter delphi's biggest auto parts customer gm and the obama administration's eagerness for a quick restructuring of the automaker, gm wanting labor peace agreed to restore pension to delphi's union retirees. >> general motors made it whole again, then life was back on track. >> not for del tpaoeud salaried workers. their pensions remain slashed. >> the union had political connections and we did not. >> that's it? >> that's it. >> tom and other salaried delphi retire reese believe it was a political calculation by the obama administration to support the union pensions and not necessarily anyone elses particularly those of the salaried folks. steve ratner a head of the

autotask force that was essentially at the point of the bailout told me over the phone two days ago that with us a difficult call to make on where to draw the line he said he wasn't comfortable playing god with the auto industry but they needed a viable, happy uaw working to keep gm from relapsing into more financial trouble, so they made the deal there. megyn. megyn: steve brown, thank you. well new political controversy involving facebook, again, and free speech. this time a facebook staffer censoring a page from a political action committee that challenges president obama on the way he handled the situation in libya. judge napolitano weighs in on facebook's latest move. we are seeing one of the most disturbing ads of the campaign season and one of the most frightening messages so far, both attacking governor romney. we'll debate what and who is behind these messages, right after this break. >> i have four generations of

family on this earth and my life has been very blessed, and if the republicans steal this election i'm going to track down mitt romney and give him --

megyn: fox news alert on a little bit of good news for the more than 9 million people commuting in and out of new york city. the governor just announced there will be some limited service on the two commuter rail systems in and out much new york later today. but officials are estimating

full service will not be fully restored for weeks if not months. and this could have a big impact even beyond the borders of the big apple. trace gallagher is live with the update. >> reporter: nobody knows which service will come online tomorrow or the day after. in the tristate area people use this every day. the transportation authority said of the 5,000 square miles they cover, not a single corner went untouched. 36 hours after the floodwaters came into the subway stations, the floodwaters remain. the entire subway system remains shut down. we are talking about 468 stations. 600 miles of track. it could take 4 or 5 days to get this water out of there. but limited service on subways may begin sometime tomorrow. take a look at the tunnels.

if it takes 4 or 5 days to get the water out of the subways the tunnels could take longer. this is the brooklyn battery park tunnel that goes from look lynn into lower manhattan. you need a submarine to get through that tunnel. other tunnels flooding coming in and out of new york city. here is the governor of new york andrew cuomo. >> i can assure you everyone is doing everybody they can. they working very, very hard. but these are significant challenges we are facing. and problems in many cases that we have never experienced before or not in a generation. so patience and tolerance would be appreciated. >> reporter: on the system i spent years on, metro north up to connecticut, out to long island, across to new jersey right now shut down. debris all over the 700 miles of track.

there is a boat on one of the tracks. of course, checking out all of that track remains a monumental task. again we are talking about some service coming online possibly later today. even the good news has some bad signs. the roads are open. the busses are running but they are jammed and the ferries are running but very slowly, megyn. the traffic is at a stand still. one of the bookers for your show, megyn got on the road at 5:30 this morning. it's what, 1:35 in the afternoon, still not at work. megyn: that's supposed to be an hour 15 minute commute. this isn't just new york city. they had a bad storm and news people are playing it up. 9 million people depend on those railway lines and subway lines to get to the doctor to to get their groceries. most people don't have cars. you look at that broken battery tunnel. we were just there.

look at this. we did the tunnel to towers run for the would your honored veterans. this is me and my executive producer tom lowell running by the wall you see covered in water. we were in the tunnel running for these round warriors. look at that. the truck is completely submerged. that's tom waiting for me. doing the backward run, hurry up. thanks for that, tom. as millions come to grips with the full impact of this devastating storm, in the past few days we have seen the most controversial and disturbing political web ads to date. it's an interesting juxtaposition of where folks are going and it's raising questions about what is appropriate in politics in particular when so until the nation are suffering witwith the loss of life and

property. in the midst of all of it, a web ad is released by liberal filmmaker michael moore and the web site moveon.org. we had to [bleep] a lot of it. >> if your voter suppression throughout this beautiful country enables romney to oust , we'll burn this mother [bleep] down. megyn: monica crowley is a talk show host and fox news contributor. kirsten, do it make you feel uncomfortable? >> it's kind of creepy actually. it's sort of a creepy ad. i don't know why michael moore would do it, but worst why moveon.org would be associated with it. it's considero very crass -- it's very crass and not

persuasive. i don't know hot target audience is. megyn: is it ex ploy day tough? >> when you look over the course of the history of ads in this campaign so far not necessarily from the obama campaign but from groups supporting president obama and from the obama cam paint self. what we have seen is a paul ryan look alike throwing grandma, a wheelchair bound grandma off the cliff. we have seen mitt romney made to look demonic wanting americans out of work, throwing them out of their jobs. we have seen children being exploited. megyn: there is something called the future childrens project that put out this strange ad with the kids singing -- they think there will be oil in the water and so on and so forth if barack obama is not reelected. we'll show them the video. >> sick people are going to die and now there is the video we have seen the actress from the

show "girls" encouraging single young women to lose their political virginity to barack obama. we have a history of these kiens of ads coming from the left. what it tells you -- this is the bigger point. team obama and those who support him have nothing left. they can't run on obama's economic record because it's a disaster and now they can't run on the foreign policy record because it many shot through with lies and it's in collapse. the only thing they have left, their default position is to run these offensive ads. megyn: kirsten, your thoughts. >> the on one that is an obama ad is a lena dunham ad. i like her a lot. i think she is a great comedian. megyn: i was surprised the obama campaign usedder in this way for this ad. >> it's a very targeted message targeted towards like rall educated women. the kind of women who watch

their show. it's in the humor of that generation it's sort of ironic and i don't understand the outcry over it. this idea that suddenly she mentioned he sex, what are we going to .. it's not that controversial. the michael moore ad is offensive. but the obama campaign has nothing to do with that. they would never put out an ad like that. megyn: move on is partnering with them. >> i don't think move on should be associated with it either buff it isn't the obama campaign. megyn: kirsten made a point that ronald reagan made a joke about losing his virginity. he said i used to be a democrat. he made a joke about lose be his virginity when he was running for office. can we run a bit of it so they can see what we are talking about?

>> your first time shusend be with just anybody. it should, a great guy. someone who is beautiful and cares about and understands women. a go who cares about whether you get health insurance and birth control. the consequences are huge. >> ronald reagan making a kind of mild joke about it is one thing. in a bar. so context does matter. this coming from the left -- the left has embraced the feminist movement over many decades. i find this unconsulting to many women. you know what? where is barack obama? barack obama four years ago told us he was going to change the tone and be a transcendent figure who would elevate the discourse and transsend these kinds of things. if he disagrees with the tone. let's talk about the michael moore ad and the paul ryan ad. if he disagree with tone of that, where is the condemnation.

megyn: kirsten, you seat world differently when you have children i have found. and more and more i'm feeling like i'm 70 when i see these. i don't want my little girl being told by the president through the campaign about what her first time should be like. and to be making so light of it. making jokes about it. you not makes me feel uncomfortable. have i gotten that prude? >> yeah. this isn't targeting little girls it's targeted at women. megyn: but she'll be 14, and 15 and 16 some day. >> but she won't be able to vote when she is 14, 15, 16. it's a joke. megyn: all right. i'm going to call you up when she is 16 and sees this. thank you both so much. let me know your thoughts on

twitter @megynkelly. we have numbers on the jobs reports. that is just ahead. new questions about what's going on at facebook after the site takes down a page that challenges the president on libya. [ male announcer ] do you have the legal protection you need? at legalzoom, we've created a better place to turn for your legal matters. maybe you want to incorporate a business you'd like to start. or protect your family with a will or living trust. legalzoom makes it easy withtep-by-step help when completing your personalized document -- or you can even access an attorney to guide you along. with an "a" rating from the better business bureau

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we can help. call unitedhealthcare to learn about medicare plans that may be right for you. call now. ♪ megyn: new questions about free speech at facebook after the social media giant yanked a page that challenges president obama. the post is from a political action committee and it hits the president on washington refused to send assistance to help the seals developing our consequence that in libya during a terror attack. judge you napolitano is here. they yanked it and said never mind, it can go up. and it was just a mistake. but this is not the first time facebook has targeted a group that might be critical of the

president. >> facebook has done this. to their credit they put it back. the argument is a perfectly acceptable no matter which side of this you are on political argument. the president has claimed the seals helped him, but when they needed his help he wouldn't provide. that's a legitimate argument at this point. one the obama administration does want to hear. the question is can facebook take down what it doesn't like. under the current state of the law it can. facebook is a private entity. it's owned by millions of shareholders. it's not regulated by the first amendment. it can restrict speech it doesn't agree with. that might harm its popularity and the value of its shares of stock, that might cause a competing program or web site to come into existence. but it's not against the law. megyn: somebody thought this might harm facebook by having a

message posted by this group of navy seals who have a question about how president obama handle libya. some boss pat facebook said no you won't. >> this was probably a political judgment. they do not and none of the president's people want to discuss this issue. he has a very, very serious incompetent lapse of judgment which allowed americans to be killed when they were fighting to protect other americans. megyn: soment in media don't want to skits. and now facebook? it's one thing if they are not going to talk about it themselves. but to censor private speech about it critical of the president. mike gallagher was on this show six weeks ago and he said he has this book about 50 things liberals love to hate. 50 things liberals love to hate. and he said they refuse to 'tis

i --refused toed a ever tights n facebook because they don't like the word "hate." >> the beauty of social media use thed to be and for the most part still is, absolute freedom of speech. let the marketplace decide what speech is acceptable. if nobody hits on it, people delete it from their own segment, that will express their views on it. but it's not the right of the poster of the owner of the platform to sanction speech. megyn: it changes your idea of what they stand for and whoer in they start doing that on one political side. >> because it's private property, there may be ramifications to it but not on a court of law. judge, thank you. thank you, sir.

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megyn: after katrina hit the gulf coast everybody wanted water and ice. after sandy the hot commodity is gasoline. some people driving 50 miles just to fill up the tank. >> reporter: a travel catch-22. you have roads being opened, you have gas stations in most cases that are not open. and the reason they are not open is gas stations need power to pump the fuel and across the tristate area there is very little power to go around.

many have likened this to the gas crunch of the 1970s. remember the long lines? people lining up to fill up. there are 200 cars long, the lines to get gasoline in some cases to fill these things up. they are trying to get gas to run their generators because they don't have power antigen rayer toes burn between 4-5 gallons per hour. that's why people are on foot. there are also people filling up their cans to fill up their cars. >> if you drive around in circles you will run out much gas owner. sitting in line in the truck it burns 5 gals. >> reporter: the gas stations are worried about their gas supply being contaminated by the floodwaters. the storm shut down six east coast refineries and has slowed

down for others. even when the stations start coming back online with power their gas supplies will be few and far between. the subways and the trains might start going back a little bit back into service late this afternoon and early tomorrow morning. megyn: trace, thank you. a well-known "washington post" columnist suggesting president obama and his administration need to answer questions about libya before the election. we'll speak with the f general d states michael mukasey about whether the president needs to say something about this attack. it's one of the most heartbreaking images in sandy's aftermath. 100 homes lost in and i inferno in queens. we'll talk to someone who saw his family home go up in flames just ahead.

megyn: fox news alert. we are waiting to hear from president obama getting his first look at disaster zone that is the jersey shore in the wake of hurricane sandy. a brand-new hour of "america live." welcome, i'm megyn kelly. the president joining new jersey governor chris christie on a helicopter tour of the devastation. this will be the president's first look. focusing the attention on the area where the storm made landfall it's one thing to see the destruction on television and another to see it in person. governor christie * giving an emotional press conference saying how it was tough for him to take in the sights and sounds of the state where he grew up. the mayor of new york city, mike bloomberg told president obama

to please not come to new york, saying he can consider this tour of new jersey a tour of the entire damaged region. because new york doesn't necessarily need more dignitaries, more officials like the president flying in. that was the mayor's take in any event. we'll watch as mr. obama and mr. christy tour sites like the one buff. seaside heights, new jersey and the ferris wheel and rollercoaster that are no more. ed henry is live on the lawn of the white house. >> reporter: you are right about the president not going into new york city. mayor bloomberg concerned about police officers already pulled in rescue efforts. it happens any time the president will go into a disaster scene. governor christie as you know decided it would be appropriate for the president to come in right now. he just landed a extort time ago in atlantic city. now the president is with the government doing a helicopter tour onboard marine one looking

north of atlantic city, getting an idea of the damage, to give you a sense as you have been reporting, we got a full report suggesting before this, before the president even got there, when governor christie was meeting with other people in the region. he had people openly weep hog had lost hair homes, lost their businesses. think about the remarkable scene we are about to get when we get these pictures back in of the president of the united states and chris christie who just a month or so ago delivered the keynote address at the republican national convention on belaugh of republican mitt romney. a clear sign that less than a week before the election you have a rom in the republican governor and democratic president chucking politics aside to help the region and help the eastern seaboard deal with this. but make no mistake about it. tomorrow the president is going back out on the campaign trail. he will be in colorado, nevada. on to wisconsin and ohio the

next couple days. so both sides taking a bit of a time out right now. but vice president biden in florida today. mitt romney back in florida, the battleground state today. both sides have been gingerly getting back into this. today the president and governor christie putting politics aside. we are in the midst of a very, very tight election. megyn: enjoy it while you can. air force one goes pretty much where it pleases. but the rest of the country's air traffic is a mess. 15,000 flights canceled since sunday october 28, interrupting plans for 1.5 million passengers. 19 airports across the country were impacted as far away as los angeles. but a glimmer of hope today. two of the new york area airports newark and jfk opened to limited service. the airport in philadelphia moments ago the air in

philadelphia says it has resumed operations. so there you go. as we wait for the path's remarks, the "new york times" taking the opportunity in the wake of sandy to argue for bigger government. at the same time some democrats are criticizing governor romney's support for disaster relief after comments earlier this year about the way peopla i -- theway fema is run. and the democratic chair accuse the governor of taking advantage of the governor for the storm relief rally. michael, they are upset with governor romney in part because he was in dayton, ohio, he was campaigning in ohio but he decided instead of doing what they normally do to ask for support for the victims of sandy and that has some 0 folks upset. >> it has the left upset.

it's interesting to watch this unfold. the left thinks that the right is going to attack the president of the united states for acting like the president of the united states of america much like they attacked george bush with katrina. bush made the same phone calls that the president is making now except to the governor of louisiana and the mayor of new orleans, all turned down his help. and the rest is history. but they are trying to play politics with all of this and global warming, they are trying to blame somehow in the future to elect him these things won't happen. all the while they forget their president barack obama cut fema. megyn: the folks who are opposing governor romney in this race are talking about he wants to abolish fema. he wants to get rid of fema because of an answer he gave during a debate to john king of

cnn talking about how we need to make cuts in certain programs and talked about our debt. that's my own characterization of it. he's right. fema is kinds of a catchall. a lot of times it's under turned. knowing they will have to get more money to in fact fund it. when they do that all these happy members of congress are glad to put every pork barrel project in the world into it they couldn't get vote on in a regular lay in washington, d.c. but fema isn't going to go anywhere. and mitt romney is right. there are times when you can look to the states to do a better job than washington, d.c. and that's what we need to look at. that's what he wants to do as president. he didn't say he was going to get rid of fema. he said he will look at like everything else. but he's not playing politics. conservatives who are supportive of the government. i remember as a child my mother

jane wyman, we used to go back to the werey shore and spend the summer with her agent. i cry when i are see what happened back there. why they think we conservatives would attack the president of the united states at this tragic time shows what the left is and where they are coming froth this time. they make politics out of everything. i wonder if they pen pray. megyn: i don't know. you hate to see something like sandy turn political. the president -- when in new york and new jersey and connecticut, we need his help, we need some help from the federal government. i don't know. you would think people would want help from whoever is willing to gift whether it's governor romney at a rally getting private citizens to help or barack obama using some of the power of the federal government. >> mitt romney pulled himself off the campaign trail. did a fundraising events and got

food to send to the victims of sandy. he's together best he can. he's not president of the united states. he has got to do something to try and help. megyn: the left seems to be saying he's so anti-government, if he were the president he would be getting rid of fema and there would be no federal government help in a situation like this. >> that's as outrageous as the ad with paul ryan shoving grandma after the cliff. this is what the left does. they try to change the dynamic, change the issue when they don't have anything good to run on like the economy of the united states. so let's attack mitt romney like the ad you just showed a little bit ago with the little old ladies in the wheelchair. and the things put out by michael moore and move on d mov. this is the direction they go. i hope america wakes up and says i have had enough of this crap. let's elect a president and get america back on the right track instead of playing the games they are being played with by

moveon.org and other organizations that tear count fabric of america instead of building it up. let's stand behind the president and those people on the east coast who have gone through this terrible situation and quit playing politics with it. it's not for politics. this is to get help to people who need it. megyn: michael reagan, thank you so much for being here. we have big news about the october jobs report. one of the last big economic announcements voters will get before they head to the polls. a well-known "washington post" columnist suggesting the white house needs to answer questions about benghazi and about our own jennifer griffin's exclusive reporting last friday and they need to do it before tuesday's election. we'll ask the former attorney general of the united states, michael mukasey, whether that is correct. do we need answers and now about

benghazi? and a before and after comparison from new jersey that is striking. look at that. governor chris christie saying the jersey shore will never be the same. >> it's very difficult. [ mother ] you can't leave the table

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megyn: a columnist for the "washington post" has filed a column raising questions about the report by our own jennifer griffin. he writes that the white house owes america answers. he says they owe those answers before us days election. joining me now michael mukasey. he served as attorney general during the barb administration.

general mukasey, welcome to the program, good to see you. >> good to be here, megyn. >> this is interesting to see from david ignatius saying they need to answer this now. a couple questions, why we have folks who were there saying that requests for backup were denied by the cia which the cia denies. and saying we also need to ask why the united states didn't send armed drones or other assistance to aid those under attack in benghazi immediately. your thoughts. >> megyn, we have got an election coming up and there are two things the american people are entitled to. one is competence and the other is honesty, and we don't seem have gotten either one in terms of this horrible event. in the leadup to it they denied requests for protection. that was testified to before congress.

instead of adding pro folks our embassy, and to libya in general, it was denied. notwithstanding the british was attacked and the red cross was attacked. then in the event itself there were requests for assistance when people were told to stands down. and the cia has said specifically that they never told anybody to stand down. secretary panetta says he gave an order directing the armed forces not to enter the fray and yet the president has said or has claimed as soon as the white house found out about it, they directed the everything that could be done be done. we saw copies of messages that went to the white house while this was on going that made it clear that the consulate was under attack, it was an organized attack, and yet all we

got in the aftermath was this ridiculous come and bull story about a video having had something to do with it. it was cynical to the point of -- of insanity that even as the president and the secretary of state stood there in the presence of the bodies of those four people she was talking about that video when everybody knew at the time it had nothing to do with it. megyn: today we got news of this tunisian man. he was arrested in connection with these attacks on our consulate in libya. now we hear he and another have been detained or were detained at an airport in turkey in the days after the attack and transferred to tunisian custody and u.s. interrogators have not been able to interrogate the guy. they made arrests, they have been detained, they haven't been

interrogated and it appears we are going to treat this as a law enforcement problem and not necessarily as a terrorist attack. a terrorist problem where we would respond a bit differently. as the former attorney general your thoughts on that. >> well this is a case of people who are blinded by ideology looking through an ideological lens and seeing a crime where everybody else seize terrorism and a war. we have been told repeatedly that wars are over. and the only people who don't know that are the people fighting us. for them the war is still on. so we continue to treat this as a law enforcement issue when they treat it as a war. megyn: what kind of message do you think it sends to those who would like to attack us the way that this has been handled from soup to nuts? >> i think that the message it sends is that it is not at all

dangerous to be an enemy of the united states. that if you attack the united states, the united states will turn a blind eye and pretint hasn't happened, and fit has happened we'll pretend it is simply a crime and not a war. that's what's being done here. the leadup to this, the event itself and the stories afterwards, all show a lack of both come he tense and honesty. obviously you know as a criminal lawyer that in a trial a defendant has a right not to testify and the jury can't draw an inference against it. but we don't have an amendment in politics and it's shocking to think the administration is willing to have the jury which in this case is the american public, draw all the negative inferences in world and yet not speak the truth. you can only imagine what the

truth must be like if they are willing to keep silent. the facts are known. the facts are simple. they are known, they are available. the on thing that remains is to disclose them. megyn: they say the fofg war, they say conflicting information, they stay general david petraeus gave them information and so did the dni that they relied on in speak out about a video. why shouldn't we believe that and say we have intel problems and not an honestly problem from the administration. >> that's nonsense on stil stiln on -- on stilts. the cameras showed an attack. there was never a demonstration. there was never anyone saying anything about a video. that was a fabrication from the start. megyn: thank you for being here.

we appreciate your perspective. >> thanks. megyn: we just saw a purchase full moment of truth in new jersey as a young woman powered out her heart to governor chris christie about what she lost in the storm. we are waiting to hear from governor romney with his message for the victims of sandy and his message for voters in advance of next tuesday. three minutes away. >> what a generous heart south florida has. if you can, give blood. the donations are way down because of this hurricane. so today think about where you can donate blood and let's show everybody what south florida is all about. but you know --

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megyn: new video just into the newsroom of governor christie touring the most devastating areas his state. he takes a moment to console an upset resident. listen. >> i know. i know. >> we don't deserve this ... -- our house, everything is gone. i never in 10 years had water in my house. >> it's the worst storm and the worst devastation. megyn: tough moment there. she is not the only one.

think of the number of people who lost their homes, lost their property, lost some favorite memories. whether it's a picture in your home or just seeing the place you spent your childhood summers under water and completely devastated. knowing friends who lost their belongings, their homes. dozen of people dead in the wake of sandy, and now we get new information from the national weather service regarding the power of the storm as she came ashore. surf city, new jersey record a wind gust of 89 miles an hour. i think it's 95 and up is to cat 2 hurricane. so the power of that storm which was not just a hurricane, but a hurricane trapped in a nor'easter and the storm surge as the ocean just went to places it was never meant to be. more on the devastation. after taking a few days off from the campaign trail the candidates are slowly resuming

in their campaign efforts. governor romney today in coral gables, florida where we are await his remarks. that's where we find carl cameron. >> reporter: hi, megyn. the university of miami for mitt romney. he has begun to jump-start the campaign after the lull that took place in the wake of sandy's devastation. mr. romney began the rhetoric and amping it up though he didn't mention president obama by name. he's making references to the disaster relief effort. you can see on the jumbo screen this started early yesterday morning. the red cross with a text to make donations. earlier today mr. romney started the campaign trail in tampa. he will have three events in florida today. on this first day back on the trail's a combination of messages. one, sympathy for those in the storm's path and two,

anticipation in a get out the vote effort which he hopes will be a big victory. >> please make sure you go out and vote early. tough a dollar extra send it to the red cross for our friends in harm's way. i love, i appreciate it and together we'll win. thank you, guys. thank you. >> reporter: romney aides came back and visited us on the plane. a hotter half-hour flight. they believe mr. rom this on offense and expanding the battlefield to places like minnesota. obama spokesman david axlerod says he will shave his mustache if they lose in those three battle ground states. they think they are in striking distancer to wins in ohio and across the country to get to the 270 electoral college votes. it's an uphill climb. pollsters in the romney campaign

realize ohio will be a big challenge. they are trying to put together a come from behind snrurnlg these last five, six days. megyn: did axlerod steal that from geraldo? >> reporter: not the mustache. but being out of a job at the white house would be worse. megyn: i remember geraldo saying if o.j. simpson was found guilty he would shave his mustache. >> reporter: if the mustache fits. megyn: you must not shave it. it was on, now it's off, now it's on again. we are talking about sandy and the big unemployment report. that is supposed to come out friday. but now we have big news on one of the last issues that voters will hear about before they cast their ballots. scene update on the jobs report after this break. heartbreaking video from the community in queens, new york

that was leveled by fire. more than 100 homes burned to the foundation because of sandy. victims asking, where do they go from here? >> i have got 34 years on the job and i have never seen this before.

megyn: more video just coming in the newsroom of this very emotional tour of the damage in

new jersey. governor christie is console distraught residents. the woman lost her entire home. listen. >> the same time last year. >> yes, it was the same time last year. >> i've got nothing of my husband, my son, it's all ruined down there, every ounce of it ruined. nothing, nothing, nothing. nothing. it's a shame. >> yeah. >> it's a shame. i got nothing left. no memories or anything else. everything's ruined. >> your memories are up here. >> yeah. i'm going to lose it. >> i know that. >> i'm devastated over this. >> of course you are. >> i'm devastated. >> and you should be, but you've got to take a deep breath, okay? we're going to clean it up. >> i'm going to try. i've been trying to keep it together, but it's very hard. >> of course it is. >> very hard. >> that's why i came to visit. >> i appreciate that.

thank you very much. >> of course. you hang in there. >> yes, thank you. megyn: he's right. your memories are in your head, but you think about the things you have, your precious keepsakes in your home, you know, your baby's first lock of hair or your last pictures of your deceased parents or, you know, whatever it is, and there's a reason you hold on to those and you treasure them, and you keep them in a lock box in your house that you hope will never be destroyed, so you can feel for the pain that folks are dealing with now, and good for the governor for going out and talking to the constituents himself, and sometimes it can help just to be with other human beings and have an arm put around your shoulder. president obama is with governor christie taking a look at the devastation himself, we are expecting remarks from both within the next hour, this is video of the president arriving a short time ago. ♪ well, after three days of back and forth on how hurricane

sandy could affect the release of the monthly jobs report, this is the last one we're going to get before we go to the voting booth on tuesday, it appears we will be seeing the unemployment data just in time. days before the election. on october 29th, the day the storm hit, the labor department said it had not yet made a decision on whether it would release that report. later that same day we heard it would happen despite the storm. then yesterday we were told they would try to release it on time, and then today just a short time ago we heard it will be released 8:30 friday morning as scheduled. julie roginsky and melissa francis is the most of "money with melissa francis" and simon conscious bl is author of "the wall street journal" guide to the 50 economic indicators that really matter. i don't know whether people are sitting at home saying it's the jobs report coming, isn't it? i've got to know!

but this is the kind of thing that could tip some voters one way or another. if the president gets a great number and can say i told you, we are going in the right direction, look at the jobs report, or if the unemployment rate goes up, mitt romney can say what he's been saying which is this is not what a real recovery looks like. so we expect it to come out. do we know at this point, simon, where we expect it to be? >> my gut is telling me, and having looked at a lot of other data related to this, is it's going to be flat to up. we're going to see either the same unemployment rate, 7.8 percent, or slightly up. megyn: so up is bad. >> up is bad. megyn: more people unemployed. >> and we're going to see a very modest growth in payrolls, and companies are going to add a relatively modest number of people to their work force. so it's something a little over 100,000 new jobs which is nowhere near enough to even keep up with population. megyn: all right. so does that then discredit the cynics who said that president obama is manipulating the

numbers? remember jack welsh tweeted out after the last one that was good for the obama administration? >> there was a lot of healthy skepticism because you have to remember that 759,000 people magically found jobs according to household survey but didn't show up on companies' payrolls. that was the discrepancy -- megyn: they all became self-employed. >> i guess. i mean, we don't know what happened to those people. are they working for cash, working part-time? we don't know why the two surveys didn't match last month, and there were a lot of people out there very skeptical. but it was a surprising number, so you have to figure that it's probably going to tick a little bit higher this month. when i talk to various economists, they say 7.9%, maybe it goes back to 8 -- megyn: 7.8 now. >> correct. if it goes boyfriend 8, it's -- above 8, it's bad for the president. it is just days ahead of the election. megyn: i mean, these are financial people. >> they are financial people, they know much more about it -- megyn: she was covered.

[inaudible conversations] >> but i will say despite her harvard qualifications, i don't know whether it does matter. people are focused on, you know, we just had a horrible natural tragedy happen. there's so many other things going on. people have pretty much already made up their minds. early voting, don't forget, has been going on for nearly a month in some places, so is this going to be a number we're all talking about? of course, but is this a number most people are going to be absorbing before they go to vote? i'm not so sure. >> there's something called the misery index which is the inflation index plus the unemployment rate. if that goes up during a president's first term, he tends to get kicked out, and it's gone up, it's gone up substantially during president obama's first term, and that would suggest if you believe the historical numbers that he's toast. that doesn't necessarily fit with the polls, but that does seem to be what -- megyn: i don't have the stat in front of me, but no president's been reelected in several

decades with an unemployment rate -- since fdr, if it's over 8, so 8% is a psychological, and to some extent historical barrier. >> absolutely. and it was a big deal that it ticked down to 7.8% last time, especially because it had been over 8. that's what made a lot of people skeptical. you know, it raised a lot of questions. but at the same time, you know, the folks at the labor department, you know, they're nonpartisan folks. they're all government employees. megyn: they are. so we can trust them? because here, the reason i ask you is because the numbers seem to change, anecdotally this is a news anchor who doesn't know a lot about math. they release these things, and then a month later it changes. >> there's a lot of revisions. >> happens all the time. >> i'm skeptical of the government in every circumstance. i think that they could fumble this data not out of malice or politics, just because it's not very accurate data. megyn: uh-huh. >> well, the way they do it, don't forget, it's basically a poll. they sample 60,000 households.

that's much better than the political polls we see, but at the same time 60,000 households compared to how many people are actually employed or unemployed in this country? >> it also begs the question, you know, are you doing anything to earn money, are you working, would you like to be working more? we know how polls are. >> and on the other one, the payroll report that's basically, based on companies sending in survey data and sometimes the person sending it in doesn't get to it, and that's why they have two revisions to it. you know, i think, you know, they can get these statistical anomalies not through malice, but just through the collection process. megyn: but what are the indicators that support that we are doing better in the country? i mean, the gdp growth was 2% last quarter? >> terrible. megyn: terrible, but a little less terrible than the one before? >> still terrible. i mean, still terrible. this is in economics you say there's generally a v-shaped recovery. megyn: this i understand. even the nonmath people get that.

[laughter] >> generally, when you have a recession this deep you spring back out of it. that has been the history in our country. this time we haven't seen that at all. it just hasn't happened. 2% isn't enough to make back the jobs we lost. it would take, like, nine years. [inaudible conversations] >> fall out of a cannon. you can -- megyn: supposed to be. >> really we've never seen a recession this bad since the great depression, that's the problem here. we're in such a humongous -- this is actually just something that is historically accurate that we were in such a deep hole -- >> the hole, though -- >> well, it depends. megyn: is that right? >> yeah, absolutely. >> housing starts, all these things that are used to fuel recoveries before are the reason we're in this recession in the first place. and housing, i think traditionally has been a reason -- >> it's true that every recovery since 1945 has had housing, except this one, has had housing -- megyn: let him finish, go ahead. >> that is true, but also we haven't seen anything quite as deep. when we saw deep recessions like

in the early '80s, we came out robustly. we came out robustly in the early '90s too. we had a shallow recession in the 2000s -- megyn: that's what they were talking about under president reagan's recovery the gdp was growing at 7%, not 2%, and there's a question about whether we can accelerate that, whether if we changed presidents we would have an accelerated recovery rate. obviously, the two men disagree whether that's likely to happen. but you raise an interesting point, the misery index. that's an actual thing that people can use to calculate. i think people have their own anecdotal misery index where they look around and say i know this number of people who are unemployed, i've had this happen to my salary or family income, and that's what barack obama has been up against. >> he has. i mean, nobody -- including barack obama, i think -- is happy with what's going on. nobody can say, look, the world is fantastic, and let's all go home and call it a day. but there's a difference in approaches, and i think part of the approach that the president

has been talking about is essentially saying the government does have a role whether it's through stimulus spending which, you know, the republicans disagree with but a lot of economists agree the reason we're not in a worse hole than we are today, and mitt romney doesn't happen to agree with that, and that's a philosophical difference. mg meg that's what romney was saying, you know, you have to ask yours if you -- yourself if you really believe the next four years will look and feel different than the last four. >> i mean, you have to ask yourself did it work? we increased the deficit by so much, we're now $16 trillion in the hole, there were all these shovel-ready jobs that didn't happen, and do you feel like it was worth it, is the economy roaring? no. so i think economists will look, there's the keynesian approach where we're borrowing a ton of money from china, we're spending all this money to try to get the government to create demand. i think if you look at the experiment, it did not work. megyn: all right, panel, thank you all so much. >> thank you. megyn: well, residents and city officials getting a first look at the storm damage in one new

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>> the water surge was such that emergency equipment couldn't even get on the peninsula. so the fire had, there was nothing anyone could do. it went unchecked for about two-and-a-half hours. megyn: well, that was new york congressman bob turner speaking by phone to our own bill hemmer on "america's newsroom" earlier. it was an emotional interview posted on foxnews.com. his was one of more than 100 homes that burned to the ground in queens, new york, as sandy came ashore monday night. this is some new video in that beach front community of breeds si point. firefighters arrived at the

scene to find chest-high water at the scene forest forcing them to use boats for rescues. in another area terrorized by sandy is long beach island, new jersey. look at these aerial shots. the massive storm surge hurling boats right up into people's yards, littering the area with motorcycles, large trees. one resident says the area looks like a war zone. while one of the borough's mayors reported that many homes had 3-6 feet of water inside. ben is in new jersey which is on long beach island right near that area, he's joining us live by phone. ben, thank you for being here. did you decide to ride out the storm in your home? >> i did. megyn: what was that like? >> well, it wasn't the calmest night of my life. there were some specific reasons why i decided to stay down here, one of which is that there are no large trees anywhere near my

property, and that was the concern during the hurricane. the other is that i had almost a full city block on either side of me between the ocean and the bay, and on the ocean side at my specific location i knew that the beach was very wide and that the dunes were very wide. so i figured, you know, i rode out irene here also. i figured even if this storm was many orders of magnitude bigger, which it was, i'd only get a little flooding, and thankfully, at high tide on monday night -- 8:22 p.m., i'll always remember that exact time -- that turned out to be the case. megyn: for you they did, for others not so much. it's a very narrow island where the ocean is on one side and the bay is on the other, and i believe it's only one time in history that the two met due to storm surge or other reasons, and it happened this time with the main road that runs through long beach island looking like an ocean, and you can see some of the devastation in these pictures that resulted. describe the scene as you know it now outside.

>> um, well, i can't see very much of the island. as you head down the main boulevard south from my town, you eventually -- in the southbound lane you come to a police car with its lights flashing, and they'll tell you the only people south of that point are, um, you know, crucial personnel or anyone who agrees to be escorted off the island by the police. so that's as far as you can get. my particular community fared pretty well, no major exterior damage on the homes. but as you go south, you begin to see, you know, some smashed garage doors on the ocean side. in one area that i had to leave very quickly because there was a very strong smell of gas, you know, i also saw, you know, in storm surge sand a sinkhole about the side of a manhole with fluid bubbling up through it. i hate to think what it was. so as you go south, the mood gets a little more haunting. i did have a police officer tell

me, i asked him about southern lbi, and he just said, quote, bad, really bad. so my sympathies out to everybody here. megyn: all the best to you. thank you for sharing your experience with us. we appreciate it. >> sure. megyn: we'll be right back.

megyn: fox news alert and down to coral gables, florida, where governor mitt romney is rallying crowds. he was just introduced by marco rubio who followed jeb bush, the former governor of florida, and we should have that signal back for you momentarily. there's a tease. in the meantime, while we wait for the governor, are we going to go to snowy west virginia? poor kelly wright. he went out -- look, i've been seeing you outside freezing all day in west virginia, tell us what's happening in elkins.

>> reporter: well, hats off to the people of elkins, west virginia, and this entire randolph county. listen, the people of west virginia are hearty, and they're stout. they anticipated sandy's scorn coming to hit them and hit them hard with the blizzards, and those blizzard conditions have not stopped them from getting out there to actually make the roads passable even up in the higher elevations, megyn. as you know, up near snowshoe mountain, they can be very high, some 3,200 feet, and coming over those treacherous roads because of ice and snow and wind, they can be devastating. 14,000 people in this county alone are without power, a little more than 216,000 people in the rest of the region still without power. the governor giving praise to his road crews as he should because they've been out there coming up here and passing over those treacherous roads, i actually saw snowplows, 2:00 in the morning out there doing their job, making sure that the roads were passable. and even road crews out there

moving -- i had one guy, lyle, can't forget him, he actually moved a tree limb before i approved him because i was riding in my car. and then you look at the people of elkins, they are just stalwart, getting out there, helping each other shovel snow. so it's still a lot more work to be done. they've got to get back to work, they know that, but before they do, they have to clear all this debris out of the way. megyn, back to you. megyn: oh, kelly, thank you for staying out in the cold and bringing the stories here. we appreciate it. it's been incredible watching the snow, the flooding and the fires in the wake of sandy, and now we head down to florida to watch the former governor of massachusetts make one of his final addresses before the big vote on tuesday. >> we face extraordinary challenges in this country, and you know some of those, we have them here at home, we have an economy that is not creating the jobs that the american people need. many of you from university of miami here today know that when

you graduate, you want to have a good job. [cheers and applause] and right now about half the kids coming out of college can't find work or college-level work despite the fact of having large student debts, and i want to change that. we also have other challenges. we have some 23 million americans that are struggling to get a good job. we also have one out of six americans living in poverty. we have 47 million americans on food stamps. that's what's happening here at home. then around the world we face challenges as well as iran speeds along its course to become nuclear, as we also face competition for jobs from china and other nations. we face some real challenges. and as a result of that, it is my view that we should not continue along the same path, but it is time to take a new path, a bold, aggressive change. [cheers and applause]

because the road we're on, the road we're on is not doing so well. >> romney! romney! romney! romney! [cheers and applause] now, you probably know as i think about what we need to do, i actually have a plan with five key steps to get this economy going. and to make sure that when you graduate, there'll be a job there and to give those 23 million people -- get those 23 million people working and to make sure we help those people get off of food stamps because they've got good jobs and incomes, and these five steps will create 12 million jobs. and because of those jobs you'll see more take home pay, and you may know what those steps are, but just to remind you. number one, because of an interesting development in

technology, we learned not just how to drill into the earth vertically, but also how to go horizontally and to tap into pockets of oil and gas, and by virtue of that, we have a lot more of that stuff than we thought, and if we take full advantage of our coal and renewables and nuclear, america, north america could be energy independent in eight years. [cheers and applause] and to help us along i'll make sure and build that pipeline from canada as well. number two, a nation which is highly productive, and by the way, you hear that term. i remember hearing america was the most productive nation in the world, and i wondered what that meant exactly. they look at how much stuff we make in a year as a nation, goods and services and divide before. megy y